AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Department of Transportation will virtually cut the ribbon on the agency’s Mopac Expressway intersections project on Wednesday following near three years of work.
The project first kicked off in January 2018 and set out to improve the highway along the intersections of Slaughter Lane and La Crosse Avenue.
Improvements included digging underground to create new mainlanes.
“We dug all 750,000 cubic yards of dirt hauled it out and put the mainlanes there,” Brad Wheelis, a TxDOT spokesperson said.
TxDOT added this allows traffic to continue moving.
“Prior to this project, if you wanted to head further south on MoPac you would go through the intersection of Slaughter Lane and La Crosse Avenue and you might encounter a red light at the traffic signal, but we’ve done here is put two lanes in either direction that go under those new bridges and so you avoid those two traffic signals,” Wheelis said.
The new bridges led to other changes such as a new diverging diamond intersection at Slaughter Lane that opened last July. However, it wasn’t until November that TxDOT was finally able to open both MoPac lanes at La Crosse Avenue.
Other improvements consist of shared-use paths and new bicycle lanes.
Those with the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority said they’re working on plans for the MoPac south project. They propose adding up to two toll lanes in each direction from Cesar Chavez Street to Slaughter Lane because officials said if nothing is done, drivers could spend up to an extra 35 minutes traveling on the highway by 2035.
Another project includes the Barton Skyway Ramp Relief. This would alleviate the bottleneck traffic merging onto southbound MoPac at Barton Skyway and Bee Caves Road entrance ramps. They’re proposing adding pavement for auxiliary and merge lanes.
For now, because of COVID-19, funding has been an issue and the project remains on hold, but officials said it could resume next year.
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